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Analysis of Transient Data from Infiltrometer Tests in Fine‐Grained Soils
Author(s) -
Guyonnet Dominique,
Amraoui Nadia,
Kara Reda
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2000.tb00225.x
Subject(s) - infiltrometer , hydraulic conductivity , soil water , infiltration (hvac) , dimensionless quantity , soil science , geology , geotechnical engineering , environmental science , mathematics , mechanics , thermodynamics , physics
Data collected during ring infiltrometer tests are often analyzed while assuming either that the effect of gravity is negligible (early‐time, transient data) or that it is dominant (late‐time, steady‐state data). In this paper, an equation is proposed for inter‐preting both early‐time and late‐time data measured during infiltration tests under falling head conditions. It is shown that the method used by previous authors for interpreting both early‐time data is a special case of the proposed equation. The equation is applied to data collected during tests performed in fine‐grained soils, and results are discussed. The analysis suggests that to assume a priori values of the soil sorptive number, as indicated in the literature for various soils, may in some cases lead to severely underes‐timated values of the saturated hydraulic conductivity. Conversely, in low permeability soils, to assume steady‐state gravity drainage may lead to order of magnitude overestimates of the saturated hydraulic conductivity. A dimensionless analysis provides characteristic times that correspond either to the duration of the log‐log half slope displayed by early‐time data or to the log‐log unit slope characteristic of late‐time data.